Honestly, now, are you
confident that your radar is properly set up? Are you conversant with
all those screen acronyms? No? You’re not alone; frustrated engineers
say that radar is particularly susceptible to the "80/20 rule,"
the notion that 80 percent of operators use only 20 percent of a device’s
capabilities.

I’ve reviewed the
current state of radar and am optimistic that we can improve on that ratio.
Much of the knob-twiddling required to maximize radar imagery has been
reduced by automation, and several technologies now make that image easier
to interpret. On the other hand, even low-end units offer display and
integration features that deserve study.

The gut technology of
Radio Detecting and Ranging hasn’t really changed much since its
desperate development during WWII. A spinning magnetron fires pulses of
variable length and rate, measures their echoes, and displays the crude
results. What has changed are the controls applied to the basic imaging.
The dreaded Tune control, so critical that some skippers would ban its
use by crew, is now entirely absent or only requires occasional troubleshooting.
Likewise, Gain, Sea Clutter (sometimes termed STC), and Rain Clutter (FTC)
often have alternative Auto settings. Last summer I watched a Raymarine
representative put all these once-touchy settings to manual zero, then
to auto–and, ba-da-bing, up came clean, uncluttered target images
at every range. Certainly a wise user should be able to evaluate effectiveness
and apply manual adjustments as necessary, but this level of automation
is great news.